CEO Roberto Iacone admitted in an interview that the market remains tough, even for a biotech in the red-hot ADC world. But Alentis is targeting an IPO as early as 2025.
Alentis Therapeutics has wrapped one of the largest fundraises of the year in the antibody-drug conjugate space, a $181.4 million series D that could be the jumping off point to an initial public offering as early as next year.
CEO Roberto Iacone, a serial entrepreneur and Versant Ventures alum, said in an interview with BioSpace that the company is navigating a still-challenging market, but pointed to two things Alentis brought to the table: a target others aren’t pursuing (Claudin-1–positive tumors) and a flurry of hirings that created a team no one could overlook.
“In this market, the investor wants to see great science, but [it’s] very important [to have] a great team,” Iacone said. While Alentis had that in 2023, this year it brought on Pfizer’s William Pao to the board and Jonathan Freve as CFO, and elevated Alberto Toso to chief scientific officer. A flurry of appointments also bulked up the scientific advisory board. All helped show that Alentis has matured since its last fundraising round, a $105 million series C in April 2023.
This new round brought in six new investors on the public and private sides. While Iacone would not call it a crossover round, he did say that he and the team are watching the markets closely right now and a Nasdaq IPO could be in Alentis’ future.
“This year is better, and we hope that it will continue to be better in ’25 and we cannot exclude that we move towards an IPO on the NASDAQ,” Iacone said. “With this financing round, with the team that has been in place and with these two ADCs, we clearly [have] all the elements in case we have to move towards that goal in end of ’25, beginning of ’26.”
Alentis Targets Claudin-1
For now, the cash will help Alentis advance its pipeline of CLDN1+ targeted medicines for solid tumors and fibrotic diseases, particularly Phase I/II trials for two ADCs in oncology. The FDA recently cleared an investigational new drug application for ALE.P02 in advanced or metastatic CLDN1+ squamous solid tumors, which is expected to get underway in the first quarter of 2025. A trial for ALE.P03 in patients with CLDN1+ tumors will follow in the second half. Iacone expects initial data for ALE.P02 about 12 months after the trial starts, potentially by the end of 2025.
The CEO says that Big Pharma has been interested in the potential for Alentis’ drugs to have broad indications given their targets, as ADCs targeting Claudin 18.2 have been restricted to a gastric and pancreatic cancers. Iacone could not say if any of this interest from Big Pharma could one day turn into a partnership, but said there is an “active dialogue.”
Outside of ALE.P02 and ALE.P03, Alentis is already in the clinic with lixudebart, an experimental antibody for kidney, liver and lung fibrosis. The furthest along is a Phase II test in kidney fibrosis, which is currently dosing.
The series D was led by OrbiMed plus co-leads Novo Holdings and Jeito Capital, with new investors Frazier Life Sciences, Longitude Capital, Catalio Capital, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital and Avego Bioscience Capital. Existing investors included RA Capital Management, Morningside Venture Investments, BB Pureos, Bpifrance and other institutional investors.
